


Cold, Empty, Nothing.

by AriDesert



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, It went kinda fluffly in the middle, pure angst, then it plummeted back to angst, they both need hugs, touch starved ben hargreeves, touch starved klaus hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 17:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18392900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriDesert/pseuds/AriDesert
Summary: Ben and Klaus get into an argument which leads to Ben getting very emotional.





	Cold, Empty, Nothing.

Klaus stormed down an alley, digging frantically through his pockets.

“Klaus, listen-“

“Leave! Me! ALONE!!” Klaus rounded on the ghost of his brother, screaming to heaven and back. “I don’t know how to make this clearer,  **_Ben_ ** , I. Don’t. Want. You. AROUND. If you simply must hang around me, keep your mouth shut.”

Ben stopped where he was, eyes wide. He’d never heard Klaus snap like this before. “Klaus please, I don’t want you to end up killing yourself.” 

Klaus turned away from his brother, going back to his frantic search for more drugs. 

“I said be quiet. If I have to od to finally get some blessed silence, I will.” 

Ben stood and watched his brother for a long moment before turning and walking the other way. 

Ben couldn’t stay away from Klaus for long though, eventually he found himself lurking in a corner of the latest club Klaus had wormed his way into. Ben’s chest tightened uncomfortably as he watched Klaus trash himself. Part of him felt that it was his own fault his family fell apart, that if he hadn’t listened to the little voice in his head and let his control waver, none of this would have happened. Another part knew that was bullshit. Their family had never been particularly stable, it had been treated as holy  _ fact _ that everyone would leave as soon as they were old enough. His death just sped things along. Yet another part of him grew furious at their father for raising them the way he did. The more time Ben spent watching normal families and talking to ghosts who had been happy in life, the more he realized the Reginald Hargreeves and well and truly fucked Ben and his siblings.

Ben hadn’t realized he was slowly solidifying until some random person bumped into him. The touch shocked Ben to his core, it had been so long since  _ anything _ had been able to do more than simply pass through him. Excitedly, Ben looked to Klaus, forgetting that they were in the middle of an argument. It seemed Klaus had forgotten as well. He was looking at Ben with as much surprise as his drunken high would let through. 

“Klaus! Klaus I touched someone!” 

Klaus nodded and slowly reached out, hesitant to touch Ben out of fear that the whole thing had been a drug induced hallucination. 

Emotions were still thundering through Ben, emotions strong enough to keep him solid. Tentatively, Ben reached out with his own hand, staring when he felt resistance. Klaus let out a joyous whoop of laughter and pulled Ben in for a hug. Ben melted into his brother’s embrace, tears running down his face. 

All too soon, Ben pulled out of the hug. “This may sound a little weird, but I’m  _ starving. _ Is there a chance for food any time soon?”

Klaus grinned widely at his brother, pushing their way through the crowd to the door, refusing to let go. He kept glancing behind him, a dopey expression plastered on his face. He dragged Ben to the first food truck that caught his eye and went to order. Ben waited a little off to the side, staring at his hands. He frowned slightly, something felt odd. It felt cold, the way he had felt earlier that night, but he tried not to dwell on it. But he noticed he wasn’t hungry anymore either. 

Ben sighed deeply and shook his hands out just as Klaus came back with the food, “A wonderful burrito for me, and for you dear brother, the finest of food truck dining! Complete with extra everything.” 

Klaus presented Ben with a take-out box with a bow and a flourish. Ben grinned at Klaus’ shenanigans and held his hand out to receive the food. Only for the box to fall through his hand to the ground. 

Both Klaus and Ben stared at the box in anguished disbelief. They had just been touching, Ben was  _ sober, _ it couldn’t have been a hallucination. It just couldn’t have. 

“Hey! I don’t care what your buddy ditched you for,” a man from the truck leaned out the window and yelled at Klaus, “don’t go throwing our food on the ground.” 

Klaus painted on the fakest smile Ben had ever seen and whirled to the truck guy, “So sorry sir, won’t happen again.” 

Klaus picked up the take-out box and walked away from the truck in utter silence. He gave both orders of food to the first person they saw awake and moved on before the person could protest. Ben followed close behind Klaus, desperately fighting the tears welling up in his eyes. He lost the battle when Klaus turned down an alley and started kicking anything he could reach. 

_ He had been able to touch, to feel a living person’s warmth. And now it was back to cold, empty nothing. _


End file.
